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Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies says Red Bull Ford Powertrains will back proposed tweaks to the 2027 power-unit rules to shift the power balance further towards the internal combustion engine, even though “nobody” is comfortable with changing regulations so late. Mekies said: "We support any step that the sport wants to make to get closer to flat-out qualifying and to flat-out racing. As Red Bull Ford Powertrains, for sure, we support this change. You will find nobody comfortable with changing so late for next year and that's why we have so many discussions. But certainly, we are happy to step out of that comfort zone for the benefit of the sport and to get something in place for '27."
Lewis Hamilton says the changes he has asked for at Ferrari are “finally” starting to show in his performance, and praised new race engineer Carlo Santi after his strongest weekend for the team in Canada. Hamilton said: "I chose a different set-up [for Canada] in just going through the data, working really well with my engineer. He's absolutely awesome, and I'm really loving working with him, and my number two did a fantastic job [in Montreal] and helped me really pull more performance out of the car, getting into a much sweeter place. I was able to attack all the corners finally."
Max Verstappen played down George Russell’s suggestion that they could team up for the Nurburgring 24 Hours, saying they are in “a different situation” because his focus includes his GT3 project while Russell’s is fully on Formula 1. Verstappen said: "Yeah, but I think I'm also in a little bit of a different situation, right? I've won championships in F1, and of course, I'm busy with my whole GT3 project, so I think we are a little bit in a different position like that. I think, for him, the focus is fully on Formula 1 at the moment."
Lewis Hamilton said Ferrari have been “moving mountains” behind the scenes to help him deliver his best form since joining the team, after finishing second in Canada. Hamilton said: "It's something I've been working so hard [for]… I can't even begin to explain how deep I've had to dig to be able to get to this point, and the work and moving mountains in the background to enable this sort of performance. But I'm really grateful to the team for continuing to hold me up high and support me weekend in, weekend out, and it's a really lovely feeling to see them so happy, because they truly deserve it with all the hard work they put in."
Kimi Antonelli says he “can’t relax” and must “keep levelling up” despite moving 43 points clear of Mercedes team-mate George Russell in the championship standings after winning the Canadian Grand Prix. Antonelli said: "I'm not thinking about the championship. I'm just focusing on race by race. I think it's still very early to talk about that, and of course, now I have this gap, but that doesn't mean I can relax and just take it easier. Instead, I need to keep levelling up and keep raising the bar, because it's not going to be easy. Competitors are getting closer, and also George is super quick."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says Formula 1 needs a change to the power-unit hardware for 2027, backing the FIA’s proposed move to a 60/40 split between internal combustion and electrical power. Stella said: "In my view, a change of the hardware is needed. The proposal that was put forward by the FIA – which looks at increasing the ICE power through the fuel flow, looks at redistributing the electrical power in harvesting and deployment, the battery capacity – is all part of a very important package that will make Formula 1 better. And this is a general interest that should prevail over the particular interests, because if we don't have a good sport, everyone will lose."
Fernando Alonso says Max Verstappen’s Nürburgring 24 Hours appearance can help “open the eyes” of Formula 1 fans to other categories, even though he still sees F1 as the pinnacle of motorsport. Alonso said: "But it's good that they discover different sports and different categories, different ways of enjoying motorsport. If top drivers in Formula 1 [take part], they are just opening the eyes for fans into a new series. Formula 1 is the pinnacle and lovely, but also the other series are just as magic as Formula 1 in a sense."
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said it will be “several months” before the team can properly investigate the ERS failure that stopped George Russell in the Canadian Grand Prix, because the hardware must go through safety procedures in Canada before it can be shipped back to the UK. Lord said: "It had to undergo some unusual safety procedures and then has to be shipped back actually to the UK. It will therefore be several months before the hardware gets back and we need to really dig through the data to understand exactly what went wrong and then work out how we try and prevent a repeat on any of the other modules in the future."
George Russell says he knows he can "beat anybody" in Formula 1 as he chases a maiden world title in a championship battle with Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli. Russell said: "I've got to be honest, I'm just looking at myself as my main competitor. And that's what I've done over the last seven years in my whole F1 career. I know that if I tick all of my boxes, I know I can beat anybody. I'm not looking at my edge over anybody else. I know if I tick all of those boxes, I can win. That is my goal."
BBC Sport understands Mercedes have pulled out of talks to buy the 24% Alpine stake held by Otro Capital after deciding the asking price was too high. Otro is said to have wanted $720m for the shareholding, valuing Alpine at about $3bn, while Mercedes reportedly viewed $2.2-2.4bn as a fairer valuation; a Renault source said the discussions had ended, adding: "We understand that discussions have stopped."
Cadillac team principal Graeme Lowdon says Sergio Perez has “hit the ground running” on his return to Formula 1 with the team after taking a year out following his exit from Red Bull. Lowdon said: "I'm really happy for Checo because he had quite a bold return to the sport. He took a year out after a high-profile exit, and wasn't seen in the paddock for quite some time, so you could forgive him for having to get back up to speed with certain things, and he's really hit the ground running. But I really like Checo's enthusiasm for racing, pure racing."
Haas driver Ollie Bearman says seeing his former Formula 2 team-mate Kimi Antonelli take on Mercedes team-mate George Russell has given him belief he can one day fight at the front in Formula 1. Bearman said: "I'm not fighting at the front, I'm not in a top-four car, unlike those two, but seeing that they can take the fight to their team mates, and take the fight to the other competitors around them, also gives me a sense of belief for myself. I was fighting with them in F2 and F3, and now they're fighting with the top guys [in F1], so it's another proof to me that one day I can do it as well."
Toto Wolff says it is still unclear whether Mercedes’ latest upgrade package has delivered the performance gain the team expected, despite another strong weekend after introducing its first significant updates of the season in Montreal. Wolff said: "At times, I felt like it didn't bring the performance gains that we had expected on paper, but it's very difficult to assess. We didn't see the McLarens [in the grand prix] at all, and we had the pace, we had the gap, but how much that is, is it what we have anticipated? I think it's very difficult to judge yet."
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies said Isack Hadjar delivered a “very strong weekend” at the Canadian Grand Prix after the Frenchman finished fifth despite receiving two penalties. Mekies said: "I think Isack did a very strong weekend. This weekend he was on the right window straight away. I think speed was not the issue. The one-minute penalty is a bit too much. I think he got probably close to a one-minute penalty. But in terms of underlying speed, he was at the right level."
Max Verstappen says he does not want his daughter Lily in the Formula 1 paddock for now because she is too young to remember it and he wants to protect her privacy. Verstappen said: "I don't want her in the picture right now. She has to decide for herself later whether she wants that or not. That is why I don't want her in the paddock now. Firstly, because she won't remember it later anyway, but also with privacy in mind. A baby or young child should lead a carefree life."
Aston Martin chief trackside officer Mike Krack says the team may have lowered Fernando Alonso’s seat position too far after the Spaniard retired from the Canadian Grand Prix with back pain. Krack said: "He has been uncomfortable for a while, and never to the point where it was really a showstopper, but it's like a pressure point where you feel it gets worse and worse. I think we need to reconsider a little bit the positioning of the seat. When you look at how the drivers used to sit over the last few years, it goes more and more into a lying position, and we need to check whether we may have gone a step too far. But it's something we need to check."
Max Verstappen says Formula 1 needs to be “more pure” and that the proposed 2027 change to the power-unit power split is the “minimum necessary” to make racing feel more natural. Verstappen said: "For me, F1 just needs to be more pure and I really hope that what they try to do next year will go through, because I think that is necessary, the minimum necessary, to make it a bit more natural and a bit more back to normal, or at least a bit more pure racing."
2025 Formula 2 champion Leonardo Fornaroli has completed a two-day Testing of Previous Cars run for McLaren at the Circuit of the Americas, driving the 2023 MCL60 and covering 77 laps on his first outing at Austin. The Italian, who joined McLaren’s Driver Development programme at the end of 2025 and now serves as a test and reserve driver, said the Texas programme was more demanding than his April test at Silverstone: “The run plan was a step up from my last test in Silverstone. We got to do some practice starts, which continued to give me a better understanding of what it takes to drive an F1 car in a session.”
Mercedes deputy team principal Bradley Lord said George Russell and Kimi Antonelli told the team to “trust us to race each other” after their Canadian Grand Prix battles led to discussions with Toto Wolff. Bradley Lord said: "After the sprint, there was a sit down and a chat with Toto and the two drivers just talking about how the sprint had gone and how they wanted to race each other going forward. That was actually a very constructive and very amicable conversation, but the message from the drivers was really, really clear. 'Trust us to race each other. That's what you've hired us to do, and we can do it'."
Williams team principal James Vowles says Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz “want to be part of this journey” at the team, as he looks to show progress after Williams dropped from fifth in the 2025 constructors’ standings to eighth currently. James Vowles said: "In terms of silly season, speak to Alex, speak to Carlos; they want to be part of this journey, and that's the best I can tell you. My job in this is to make sure they want to as well."
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